


Bad Dreams

by Rouko



Series: FrostIron BINGO 2019 <3 [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Tony Stark, DONT MESS WITH TONY'S STUFF, Dreams and Nightmares, Happy Wong, Jotunn | Frost Giant, Loki (Marvel) Gets a Hug, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Mischief Managed, Pissed off Strange, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Tony Stark, Tony is a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 22:56:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21044174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rouko/pseuds/Rouko
Summary: What happens when Loki has a nightmare that he hasn't had in a long time? There's a reason why it happened and Tony isn't going to like it... (Comedy and BAMF-ness ensue)WARNING: Talk of the void and a little  PTSD for both Tony and Loki.





	Bad Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> For the Frostiron 2019 BINGO- Square B2 "Stephen Strange"
> 
> Special Thanks to HyruleHB from the Frostiron Server for helping me with pizza toppings >3

Almost since the moment Loki mocked Steve at the end of the invasion, Tony had found he had an interest in the god. It took a few meetings on Asgard about atonement, and quite a few shared dreams with the mage (he was bored apparently, and Tony had been interesting enough to tell his story to. Someone that understood the threat they were all under and didn’t immediately ignore his warnings.) Loki had been granted a pardon from the dungeons, but was made to relocate to Earth to fight with it’s heroes.

Eventually they had realized a mutual attraction.

_ That _ had been fun to reveal to Steve… Or explain to Clint.

But it had been months of deep conversations, passionate nights and overindulgence at the workshop together when Ragnarok began with Odin’s death.

Loki had kissed his forehead and gone to “work” that morning like usual, but it wasn’t long because his intergalactic phone was buzzing at him in a meeting. Telling him Loki was stranded on some strange planet and wasn’t sure when he would be able to steal a ship and come home.

Between all the craziness going on, Loki couldn’t update his lover as much as he had hoped and when he finally made it back to earth it was with a small group of refugees, dirty and exhausted from lack of supplies on their journey.

They’d spent a few days and nights working nonstop to set up the Asgardians as people of earth and find them a piece of land to claim…. It was not an easy task and Tony himself had to call in quite a few favors.

Poor Loki had been awake by his estimation, nearly 3 weeks at this point. Even his enhanced body was shutting down by the time Tony gave up and joined him in their bedroom.

  
  
  
  


Loki was  _ cold _ . Being cold itself produced a visceral reaction of fear and dread. Panic nearly all encompassing constricted his airway and he felt like he was drowning. The cold, more than anything, terrified him.

It wasn’t  _ just _ because he was Jotun. Cold had never bothered him in his life. (The life he’d had as an Asgardian prince anyway…) The cold he associated so closely with terror and fighting for survival was the cold of space.

Falling through the void as long as he had, wishing to die yet unable to, had been the single worst mistake of his entire millennia of life. Falling would always make him feel sick. The cold would always remind him of the space between the branches of Yggdrasil.

Everything was dark. So dark he couldn’t see a single thing. 

He’d never been good with sensory deprivation.

If he could just get air into his lungs, he could scream. Let off some of his anxiety and fear.

The air wouldn’t flood his lungs. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t scream.

Falling….. Falling through a void of nothingness.

He woke to his shoulders being shook vigorously.

  
  
  


Loki had woken Tony from an exhausted dead sleep when he started thrashing and gasping next to him. Tony had sat up looking for a threat but there was nothing in the room. Loki nearly knocked him off the bed with the way he was flailing about, but what worried Tony was the way Loki was breathing.

He’d only heard it before during the nightmare they both shared. The one about falling through space. The one he’d admitted to, after a stressful night with Loki waking him from his own dream. 

Tony knew Loki rarely had the dream anymore and he wondered why suddenly it was back. Was it the voyage on a spaceship? The stress of losing Asgard (regardless of how fucked up and backward their realm had been)? Tony wasn’t sure, but he knew he needed to wake his lover.

To slow and hopefully stop the rolling around, he quickly straddled Loki’s hips and flattened himself down on top of the mage. It didn’t impede his movement so much as force more of his warm skin against the freezing body under him. Tony was well aware this particular nightmare caused Loki to go very very cold. He was grateful he hadn’t turned blue yet.

Only once had the dream gone on long enough that Loki eventually went blue. He’d sadly explained that his mind had worked against his own magic to shift because he knew how frigid the void was. His brain tripped that wire internally to make his body become as chilly as his mind perceived it to be as if the nightmare was really happening.

Riding this particular rodeo wasn’t very fun, but eventually Loki snapped out of it after he’d flipped Tony onto his back in his struggles. Tony took the opportunity to use one hand to grab the back of Loki’s neck.  _ Finally _ those emerald eyes snapped open.   
Tony settled back into the pillows and opened his arms wide so that his god would come willingly. Loki draped himself over Tony like he was his safe haven. Which,only made Tony’s heart seem to expand in his chest.

After he’d given Loki enough time to calm down and could feel and hear his heart rate and breathing return to normal, he kissed his forehead. Stroking Loki’s cheek he tilted his face up to look at him and bent forward to kiss him.

It was soft, gentle and chaste. He felt Loki fully relax and broached the subject.

“You haven’t had one of those in a while babe. Do you know what triggered it this time?”

Tony could immediately feel tension return and felt bad for bringing it up so soon.

Loki just paused, huffed out an annoyed breath, then snuggled back into Tony’s embrace. He’d buried his face into the inventors neck so he couldn’t be sure of the words he’d said and asked Loki to repeat them.

Pulling back with a disgruntled frown, Loki grumbled

“That second rate magician... .”

At Tony’s uncomprehending look, Loki explained about their trip to the nursing home that had once housed Odin… and how a certain  _ someone _ had reacted  _ violently against him _ (unprovoked) and then pulled up a wing-back to have a  _ chat with Thor _ .

To say Tony was pissed would be an understatement. He’d been forced to socialize with the good doctor enough when they were both doing the fundraising and schmoozing here in NYC that he knew working closely with him as an Avenger was a bad idea. He and Strange just wouldn’t get along that well. He knew immediately Stephen had assumed the worst of Loki and reacted badly without provocation.   
If Loki had truly been up to nefarious purposes, sure, justified.

But hearing the story just made him all the more angry. He held the emotion in check, mainly for his lover. They hadn’t had much sleep at that particular moment and probably could use another night and full day of rest after their recent productive bender.

So Tony smothered his anger and let it simmer below the surface of his thoughts. He had a lover who was broken again. His strong and beautiful mage was trying to bury his face into Tony’s neck and forget about his first fall from the bi-frost and how much it had cost him.

In the end, Tony did what he did best. He gave Loki what he needed. Which in that moment were strong arms wrapped around him. A quiet morning spent together making breakfast and reading turned into a lazy afternoon only disturbed by an irate magician sparking a glowing portal in their living room.

Loki froze mid page turn and glared. Tony huffed and settled in next to Loki in a very obvious sign of solidarity.

** _“You.” _ ** Strange stepped through into the living area. His face was beet red, his lips looked swollen, eyes watering. He was pointing a finger, not at Loki, but at Tony.   
  
Loki tensed but couldn’t take his eyes off the threat. Tony understood and rubbed his back as he crossed his legs and appeared unphased by an angry magician in his home.

“Yeah, me. Do me a huge favor and the next time you find out my lover is on planet, just send him home, okay?”   
  
Both Strange and Loki stared at him. One looked like he needed to let off some steam…. Preferably from both ears. That would look hilarious. Loki just softened a bit before he asked quietly

“What did you do? You were here all day…” Before Tony could get a word out, Strange was yelling.

“What did he do?!? That _ bastard _ sent us a dozen pizzas at the Sanctum but they all had hidden ghost peppers in them! He’s incredibly lucky no one was allergic to them!”   
  
Loki was ready to burst out laughing and kiss his mortal when a second portal appeared and Wong stepped out.   
  
“Really, I don’t get why you’re so angry. It’s free pizza, from a very good place I might add… and if you don’t like them, just pick them off.” He turned to the pair on the couch and did a double take at how cozy they appeared but then shrugged and after throwing a nod to Tony, turned and left. 

It didn’t take Tony long to focus back on Strange though, and this time his voice was barely contained anger.   
  
“The next time you harm him, I’ll harm you. You got that Mr. Wizard? No more tossing him into a pocket of space to fall for an undetermined amount of time. You hear me? The invasion wasn’t his fault and if you don’t believe me, use that pretty stone around your neck to go back and use that big brain you’re so fond of talking about. I’m clearing his name so you have no right to do anything except be the helpful Reserve Avenger to my favorite Avenger’s Liaison. Now, if you have anything other than ‘Yes Stark’ to say to me, you can visit during normal consultation hours every other Thursday between 12 and 1.” He turned to Loki to avoid the fury building up in Stephen’s eyes and asked “Send him home?”

Looking deep into Tony’s eyes, Loki saw mischief and a protective need but also such a deep well of genuine fondness, he raised a hand without thought.

“Don’t you fucking da-” Between one moment and the next, Strange was gone and Loki pulled Tony in for a gentle kiss. He never would have thought he would find the other half to his soul and the missing pieces of his heart here on earth, but he had.

And just like Tony, he would do anything to protect it.

  
  
  
  



End file.
